


Like Real People Do

by gardenhearted



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Near Future, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-19 01:11:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17591906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardenhearted/pseuds/gardenhearted
Summary: Years from now, the Pine Guard fight one last battle...with the very people they've been trying to protect. Aubrey gets caught in the crossfire attempting to protect Dani. Dani makes a hard choice. Aubrey makes an easy one. One-shot. Spoilers.





	Like Real People Do

Blood bubbled from the jagged gash running from her temple to the crown of her skull. Aubrey felt the world slide sideways, and then blur from her vision as the ground slipped out from beneath her feet.

 

There was a quiet to the sound of nothing. There was a type of silence that bathed her, like the way a fresh snowfall would muffle the chaos of the real world.

  
She felt something warm, and something familiar, in the palm of her hand. As she cracked her eyes open, there was a pale face, wreathed in blonde hair. What meant to be laughter escaped from her teeth in something more of a painful groan, and those dark orange eyes filled with tears.

  
"Aubrey...Aubrey...please...Aubrey..."

  
The blonde's voice sounded so familiar. Where had she heard that before? The blonde held Aubrey's blood-dried hand to her face with both hands, her eyes shutting as sobs burst out through fanged teeth. Aubrey's mind clicked. Dani. Dani. The monsters. The _things._ The attack on the Lodge. Oh, and Ned and Duck and Mama and Barclay and the Hornets and--

  
Dani's skin was glowing stronger, suddenly. The usual faint tinge of light beneath her skin that revealed her status as a Sylvain native was suddenly much brighter than normal--so bright, it hurt Aubrey's eyes, but her body felt numb, she couldn't even turn her head away to shield her vision from Dani's glowing form hunched over her body. Her body.  
Oh, Aubrey realized sleepily, like remembering that she had left the stove on or the water running. _I'm dying. This is dying._

  
As soon as those thoughts ran through her head, they were eclipsed by the glow of Dani's hands reaching down towards her face. Aubrey suddenly realized what Dani was about to do.

  
"I'm sorry, Aubrey," Dani whispered, her muffled sobs long gone and resolution shining in her eyes. "It's my people that did this...if I had told you how powerful my family was, none of this would have happened...I'm sorry..." Dani wiped the tears from her glowing face, and bit one trembling lip. "But I'll make it right."

  
As Dani's glowing hands touched her brow, the sharp cold of the ground beneath her and the night air gave way to a sudden warmth. Aubrey's mind surged--images of the crystal, the heart of Sylvain, the scared faces of Ned and Duck, the hissing blonde creatures emerging from the woods, Dani's terrified face in her human disguise melting into her Sylph form, her fangs bared and dripping blood, someone's blood, her eyes orange and piercing and terrifying--

  
_That's right_ , she realized, remembering the moment Dani had turned to her after attacking one of her own family members, the blood dipping off her fangs and painting her chest and neck crimson. The way Dani screeched at her, to run, to run far, far away and never come back. To get out now, and let her finish the fight. Her refusal. How her flames and Dani's superhuman speed were just barely able to finish them off. They thought the fight was over, that they had won, that they were all safe...

  
Aubrey felt the warmth stop. Her vision was clearing, and the pain in her head was lessening to a dull throb. Dani removed her hands from Aubrey's face. Her striking orange eyes glowed less vibrantly, and her skin started fading. Laboriously, she pulled herself off of Aubrey, her body significantly weakened by the effort of giving her so much of her life force. Her ring, which she had discarded during the fight with the other Sylphs, glinted faintly as she struggled to pick it up and pressed it into Aubrey's hand.  
Before Aubrey could say anything, Dani collapsed next to her.

  
"Dani! No, no, nonononono..."

  
The body of her mother. The people in the wreckage of Leo Tarkesian's general store. The injured Duck, his helmet askew, and Ned's sleeping body in the hospital. And now Dani, fading, right in front of her. _Not another. Not another. Oh deathless god, not Dani._

  
Aubrey hurriedly wiped the drying blood from her vision and weakly crawled forward. The Sylph was breathing laboriously, but her eyes were wide open as she lay on her side. Aubrey reached out and weakly pulled herself to her side, barely managing to pull herself upright, her head still swimming from pain and blood loss.  
Dani's lips cracked into a fanged smile.

  
"Guess you're a lot tougher than you look, Little," she said, huskily.

  
"Dammit, Dani," Aubrey said, lips trembling. She pulled Dani's head into her lap. "Don't die on me now."

  
Dani chuckled, weakly. "You gave so much of yourself to the crystal, to save Sylvain... to save all of us. It's the least we can do to thank you."

  
Aubrey couldn't laugh. Instead she closed her eyes and thought of the earth, of the world, of Sylvain. She thought of the crystal, which she and Janelle had reinvigorated with a connection to earth, to the lifeforce of humanity as a collective. How things would be different now and forever. How enraged the Sylpss were, how they would prefer to sap humanity for all its strength, killing a world that had threatened theirs first long ago.

  
She thought of the Sylphs who had come here, seeking to do just that. How Dani and the others at Amnesty had protected humanity, siding with them instead of their long-lost families.

  
How they had thought it was all over. How Dani and the other Sylphs had sacrificed happiness with their families to protect earth. _Our new family_ , Dani had said, clutching Aubrey's hand fiercely, hugging Ned and Duck and Mama like never before. _We'll take care of each other, like real people do_.

  
But nothing could be so quickly forgotten, or forgiven. Aubrey tried to push it away but there it was--the thought of Keith. His terrified and rage-filled face, as he screamed at Dani from across the clearing, shaking hands wrapped around an axe from the woodpile. Dani's shocked face, as she looked up, just in time to see Keith bringing the axe's blunt blade down at her head--

  
And then Aubrey's feet, moving unconsciously, out in front of Dani, her hands too slow to defend her face--

  
And then the blinding pain, and the nothingness. And then Dani.

  
"We can't keep doing this, you know," Dani weakly said, her blonde hair splayed out across Aubrey's lap and the woodland floor.

  
"Doing what?"

"Almost dying, fighting ridiculous fights, willing to kill ourselves for the other. It's not healthy."

  
"You know what else is not healthy? Dying." Aubrey retorted. Her fingertips glowed, and Dani's body was engulfed in Aubrey's power. It was a soft, flickering glow, like the heat of a growing flame, as they basked in the shared lifeforce. Aubrey could feel her power strengthening and stabilizing as Dani's skin began to glow more vibrantly.

Dani blinked lazily, and then smiled up at her. "You didn't need to save me. That was dumb of you."

  
Aubrey snorted. "You didn't need to save me by almost killing yourself. That was pretty dumb of you, too."

  
"Guess we're a pair of dummies, you and me."

  
"Good thing we have Dr. Harris Bonkers to take care of us," Aubrey said, stroking Dani's hair.

  
Dani laughed, some strength returning to her voice. Aubrey visibly relaxed, realizing the magic was working, somehow, someway. The faint glow surrounding them reflected in Dani's eyes as she looked up adoringly at Aubrey.

  
"But seriously, don't go doing anything else rash for a while," Dani said. "Please."

  
Aubrey fiddled with the ring Dani had handed her. "You know I'd do anything for you."

  
"And you know I'd do the same."

  
"Are you saying I do?"

  
There was a beat.

  
Dani stared silently at Aubrey, their eyes locked. Then her face suddenly burst into a fanged smile.

  
"I do, Aubrey Little."

  
Aubrey stared at her, shock clearly on her face. Then it collapsed into an embarassed grin, and Aubrey was blushing from her shoulders to her undercut.  
Wordlessly, Aubrey reached over and threaded the ring onto Dani's finger. Dani returned to her human form, still laying with her head in Aubrey's lap. She smiled brilliantly up at Aubrey. Silently, she reached up, and took one of Aubrey's hands, pulling it down to her face. Gently, Dani selected Aubrey's ring finger, wrapped around it a lock of her long blonde hair, and pulled it towards her lips to kiss it gently.

  
As she leaned down to kiss her, Aubrey suddenly paused, lips an inch from Dani's.

  
"You know, we might have to actually get married now."

  
"Like real people do?"

  
"Like real people do."

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all KNOW I couldn't resist a Hozier-inspired one-shot of my favorite gay monster ladies. Thank you so much for reading this rushed-ass, underdeveloped-ass, pining-ass thing, but I had an image in my head after episode 21. Seeing Keith betray Aubrey and the Pine Guard made me think--how long would he hold onto that grudge? Poor Keith. I'm thinking of rewriting this as multiple chapters, as a sort of "I really wish this would happen in the actual podcast and here's my theories" kind of thing, but idk if anyone would read it :| I just want my sweet monster marriage ok


End file.
